The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
A Brief History with DocumentsFirst Edition ©2009
A riveting account of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, its origins, and its aftermath, this volume by Barbara B. Diefendorf introduces students to the most notorious episode in France’s sixteenth century civil and religious wars and an event of lasting historical importance. The murder of thous...
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A riveting account of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, its origins, and its aftermath, this volume by Barbara B. Diefendorf introduces students to the most notorious episode in France’s sixteenth century civil and religious wars and an event of lasting historical importance. The murder of thousands of French Protestants by Catholics in August 1572 influenced not only the subsequent course of France’s civil wars and state building, but also patterns of international alliance and long-standing cultural values across Europe. The book begins with an introduction that explores the political and religious context for the massacre and traces the course of the massacre and its aftermath. The featured documents offer a rich array of sources on the conflict — including royal edicts, popular songs, polemics, eyewitness accounts, memoirs, paintings, and engravings — to enable students to explore the massacre, the nature of church-state relations, the moral responsibility of secular and religious authorities, and the origins and consequences of religious persecution and intolerance in this period. Useful pedagogic aids include headnotes and gloss notes to the documents, a list of major figures, a chronology of key events, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and an index.
Table of Contents
Foreword Preface A Note about the Texts and Translations List of Illustrations List of Major Figures PART ONE Introduction: Saint Bartholomew’s Day and the Problem of Religious Violence Religious Faith in an Insecure World The Origins and Spread of the Protestant Reformation Religious War and the Intensification of Religious Hatreds The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris and the Provinces Repercussions of the Massacre in France and Abroad Memories of the Massacre PART TWO The Documents 1. Religious Divisions in Sixteenth-Century France Opposing Views of the True Faith 1. Simon du Rosier, Antithesis of Jesus Christ and the Pope, 1561 2. Artus Desiré, Description of the City of God Besieged by the Wretched Heretics, 1550 The Affair of the Rue Saint Jacques 3. Claude Haton, A Catholic View of Clandestine Protestant Services 4. The Reformed Church of Paris, Report to the Swiss Delegation Concerning the Affair of the Rue Saint Jacques, 1557 Persecution and Conversion 5. The Parlement of Paris, Conviction of Marguerite Le Riche for Heresy, August 19, 1559 6. Jean Perrissin and Jacques Tortorel, Anne du Bourg, Counselor in the Parlement of Paris, Burned on the Place de Grève, December 21, 1559 7. Charlotte d’Arbaleste, The Conversion of Jean de Pas, Lord of Feuquères Growing Religious Tensions 8. Jean Perrissin and Jacques Tortorel, The Massacre at Cahors in Quercy, November 19, 1561 9. Claude de Sainctes, Discourse on the Sacking of Catholic Churches by the Heretics, 1562 10. Anonymous, The True Story of the Insurrection, Uprising, and Sedition Directed by the Priests of Saint Médard Against the Faithful, 1562 2. Religious War and the Intensification of Religious Hatreds (1562-1570) 11. Song on the Massacre of Vassy, 1562 12. François Grin, A Catholic View of the Surprise of Meaux, 1567 13. Claude Haton, The Execution in Effigy of Gaspard de Coligny, 1569 14. Jean de la Fosse, Reactions in Paris to the Peace of Saint Germain, 1570-1571 3. The Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris and the Provinces The Attempt to Kill Admiral Coligny 15. François Hotman, A True and Plain Report of the Furious Outrages of France, 1573 16. Giovanni Michiel, Report to the Venetian Senate on the Wounding of the Admiral, 1572 The Killing Widens 17. Claude Haton, The Catholic Response to a Huguenot Plot, 1572 18. Report by the Merchants’ Provost on the 23 August 1572 19. François Dubois, Painting of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in Paris Victims and Survivors 20. Simon Goulart, Memoirs of the State of France under Charles IX, 1578 21. Charlotte d’Arbaleste, Escape from the Massacre. 1572 The Role of the King 22. The Wake-Up Call for the French and their Neighbors, 1574 23. Charles IX, King of France, Declaration on the Reasons for the Admiral’s Death, August 28, 1572 The Killing Spreads to the Provinces 24. Johann-Wilhelm von Botzheim, The Massacre in Orléans, 1573 25. Anonymous, The Massacre at Troyes, 1572 26. The Consuls of Limoges, Extract from City Registers, 1572 4. Repercussions of the Massacre in France and Abroad Reactions 27. Nicolas Pithou, Huguenot Conversions in the Wake of the Massacre 28. Hugues Sureau du Rosier, Confession of his Descent into Popery, 1574 29. Joachim Opser, Letter to the Abbot of Saint Gall on Events in Paris, 1572 30. The Venetian Senate, Letter to the Venetian Ambassadors in France, 1572 31. Anonymous, A German Print of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre Political Responses 32. Protestant Resistance Theory: The Wake-Up Call for the French and their Neighbors, 1574 33. Richard Verstegan, Horrible Cruelties of the Huguenots in France, 1587 34. Henry IV, King of France and Navarre, The Edict of Nantes, 1598 35. Henry IV, King of France and Navarre, Speech to the Magistrates of Parlement, 1599 5. Memories of the Massacre 36. Michel de Montaigne, Apology for Raymond Sebond, 1588 37. Voltaire, The Philosophical Dictionary on "Fanaticism," 1764 38. Coordinating Committee for the Charter for Living Together, Message to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, 1997 39. Pope John Paul II, Address to World Youth Day Celebrants, 1997 APPENDIXES Chronology of Major Events Questions for Consideration Selected Bibliography Index
Authors
Barbara B. Diefendorf
Barbara B. Diefendorf (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is professor of history at Boston University. Her book From Penitence to Charity: Pious Women and the Catholic Reformation in Paris (2004) won the American Historical Association’s J. Russell Major Prize for the best book in French History. She is also the author of Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris (1991), which was awarded the New England Historical Association and National Huguenot Association Book Prizes, and Paris City Councillors: The Politics of Patrimony (1983). She has held fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Camargo Foundation.
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